Ashley Summers was a lovable, easy-going child, growing up in Cleveland, Ohio.
As she entered her teenage years, however, Ashley had a bit of a rebellious streak. At 13 years old, she began dating a 16-year-old, something her family didn’t approve of.
Ashley also began to fight her stepfather
Ashley, with a large and close-knit family in the area, would go to stay with her grandmother for the summer of 2007. Her grandmother lived in Cleveland also, as did several of Ashley’s aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Even though Ashley wasn’t staying at her mother’s house at this time, she still stayed in touch with her mom daily.
On July 9, 2007, Ashley’s mom, Jennifer, couldn’t reach her daughter on her cell phone that day. She began to call around to different family members and see if Ashley might be with them, or if they knew where she possibly was.
The next day was spent trying to find Ashley.
Since Ashley had been having some rebellious issues of late, her mom first believed she was likely with a friend or with one of her cousins.
Ashley’s family discovered that after an argument the morning of July 9th with her uncle, her phone was broken. This explained why no one could reach her.
Finally, after not being able to track down her daughter, she called authorities to report her as missing. Unfortunately, as we see with a lot of teenagers in these cases, law enforcement took the report but listed her as a runaway and didn’t do anything to find her. At least, in the beginning.
There would be a few possible sightings, but Ashley remained missing.
Where is Ashley Nicole Summers?
Ashley Nicole Summers was born on June 16, 1993, in Cleveland, Ohio. She was the first child of her mother, Jennifer, and she was surrounded by many aunts, uncles, and cousins nearby.
Eventually, Jennifer would have 4 more children, and Ashley loved being a big sister. She enjoyed taking care of them and playing with them.
Ashley also stayed close to her mom, and Jennifer referred to Ashley as her ‘best friend’. They went shopping together and loved staying up late and watching television together.
As Ashlew grew into a teenager, she became a little rebellious. Something that is not that unusual for young teens.
She began talking back a little, her mom caught her taking money from her purse, and the final straw was when Ashley decided to sneak a boy back to her house.
When her mom found out, she was furious. Ashley wasn’t even fourteen yet and her mom felt she was much too young to be dating.
The boy she was seeing was a 16-year-old from the neighborhood named Gene.
Ashley and her mother began to butt heads even more, and in the summer of 2007, they decided together that Ashley should go stay with her grandmother for a while. As I mentioned, Ashley had a close-knit family who all lived on the west side of Cleveland. Many of the cousins and relatives walked to each other’s houses often, and they always spent a lot of time together.
It seemed like a good idea for Ashley to stay with her grandmother for a bit, and yet Ashley’s mom could stay in touch with her and see her regularly.
Although the summer of 2007 started a little rough for Ashley and her family, they had hopes things would get better and they could do all of their fun summer activities, such as going to amusement parks, having cookouts, and staying up late.
THE DISAPPEARANCE.
In July 2007 Ashley was bouncing back and forth between her grandmother’s house and her Uncle Kevin’s house.
Uncle Kevin’s was the house where many of the cousins gathered to hang out. It seems that Uncle Kevin was the ‘cool uncle’ and everyone wanted to spend their days there. His house was also close to many other family members, within walking distance.
Whichever date it was, this is what happened.
That morning, Ashley spent some time swimming in a relative’s swimming pool. She would also argue with her uncle Kevin that morning, which resulted in her cell phone being broken.
Around 6:00 p.m., Ashley decided to leave her Uncle Kevin’s house and walk to her aunt’s house about a mile away.
The interesting thing is, that Ashley took her backpack with all of her belongings.
That day, Ashley’s mother, Jennifer, had tried a few times to reach Ashley, but she wasn’t responding. This was not typical, and Jennifer was frustrated.
The next day she continued to try and reach her daughter, with still no response.
Frustration was turning to worry.
Jennifer called Kevin to find out what was going on. Kevin told her that Ashley had left the night before to walk to an aunt’s house and that she didn’t have her phone because it had been broken.
Jennifer checked in with the aunt, but she told Jennifer that Ashley had never come over at all.
As her worry began to grow, Jennifer reached out to Gene, the boy Ashley had been seeing. Gene said he hadn’t seen Ashley in a while, he had been out of town at a family reunion.
The family started calling around to other family members and friends to try and track Ashley down. At first, they believed she must have just been with a friend. Ashley was known for bouncing all over.
Jennifer was concerned that Ashley hadn’t found a way to reach out to her yet, even though she didn’t have her phone.
The entire family spent a couple of days searching on their own before deciding to call in the authorities and report her as missing.
Ashley Summers had disappeared.
THE SEARCH.
Authorities took the information regarding Ashley’s disappearance, but they didn’t do too much. Because of her history- told to them by family members- they believed her to be a runaway, and she was listed as such.
Law enforcement did speak to Gene, who again confirmed that he was out of town at a family reunion.
Ashley’s family wasn’t sure they believed his story, but authorities didn’t think he was involved.
It seemed to be Ashley’s family that were the ones pounding the pavement, handing out flyers, and hanging them up all around their west Cleveland neighborhood.
As the weeks went on, however, they noticed something weird. Someone had been going behind them tearing down all the flyers they had been hanging up.
Why would someone be taking Ashley’s missing person posters down?
In August, just a month after Ashley went missing, her mother received a phone call from an unknown number. The caller simply said something like, ‘hi mom, it’s me, i’m fine’ and hung up.
For some reason, that call wouldn’t be attempted to be traced for several months.
In November of 2007, Ashey’s grandparents were driving through Cleveland when they saw a young girl walking on the side of the road. The girl turned to look at them, and her grandmother’s heart stopped. It looked so much like Ashley. The girl held their gaze for a minute as they passed, leading them to believe that Ashley must’ve recognized them.
They quickly turned the car around to follow the girl, but she had turned down a side street and vanished.
The young girl had short blonde hair, instead of the longer brown hair Ashley had, however, the family had been hearing rumors of Ashley living on the streets and that she cut her hair short and dyed it blonde.
Since the girl disappeared and they couldn’t find her, they never knew it was indeed Ashley.
Finally after almost a year of no clues, and most importantly, no Ashley, the FBI got involved in her case.
It is speculated that the events happening in Cleveland were what drove the FBI to get involved.
In 2003, Amanda Berry, a 16-year-old West Cleveland teen, vanished while walking home from work. In 2004, Gina DeJesus also went missing from the same neighborhood- the same neighborhood as Ashley. Gina was just 14 years old, as well- the same age as Ashley.
Did West Cleveland have a serial kidnapper on the prowl?
Were these disappearances related?
The FBI wanted to try and trace that phone call her mother had received back in August of 2007, but too much time had gone by and Jennifer couldn’t remember the exact date that phone call happened.
Finally, authorities were taking Ashley’s disappearance seriously. Something was going on in Cleveland, Ohio.
MAY 6, 2013.
This is a date that will live on in Cleveland, Ohio’s history.
On the morning of May 6, 2013, Angel Cordero heard screaming coming from outside her Seymour Avenue home. She went outside to investigate and found a young woman crying for help. Angel, however, didn’t speak English very well, and couldn’t understand.
While this was happening, another neighbor saw the commotion and came over to assist. This man, Charles Ramsey, called 911 for the girl. This girl told him that her name was Amanda Berry and she had been missing for ten years.
Law enforcement converged on the scene and discovered two other grown women in the home and a child.
They found Gina Dejesus, who had been missing since 2004, and another young missing Cleveland woman, Michelle Knight.
Michelle’s story was lesser known in the city at the time.
Major news networks from all over converged on Cleveland, Ohio as these girls were rescued.
Ashley Summer’s family had often thought her disappearance might have been connected to Gina’s and Amanda’s and when they heard about this discovery, they hoped to have their Ashley back as well.
This home on Seymour Avenue was less than two miles from the area where Ashley vanished.
Their hope increased even more when they were told a third girl was found. Rumors began to circulate that it was Ashley Summers.
Sadly for the Summers family, that would turn out to not be the case.
As the young women were freed, a man by the name of Ariel Castro was arrested for their kidnapping. Castro was also the father of the young child found in the home, a child he fathered with Amanda Berry,
This horrific event has been covered extensively, and Castro would end up taking his own life while in custody. There was never a trial.
The home at 2207 Seymour Avenue would end up being demolished.
In 2015, another lead came in when a photo went viral of a girl at an ATM in Rhode Island. This girl’s photo was being pushed all over to identify her, and as soon as those in Cleveland saw it, they believed it looked just like Ashley. Even family and some law enforcement agreed, however, the girl would be tracked down and it was determined she was not Ashley Summers.
The next big event in Ashley’s occurred a couple of years later. On December 4, 2018, Kevin Donathan, also known as ‘Uncle Kevin’ was arrested and charged with rape and battery. He was convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
He admitted guilt in those charges but is steadfast when he says he had nothing to do with Ashley’s disappearance, as some have accused him of. Law enforcement searched Kevin’s home and property but turned up no evidence of Ashley Summers.
Authorities have said he is not a suspect in her case.
Another investigation took place at West 43rd Avenue and Train Avenue, where authorities conducted a search and a property dig. They did find bones, which once sent to the lab were determined to be animal bones.
The FBI has not said what led them to search that area.
WEST CLEVELAND.
Cleveland is a very culturally diverse city that sits on the banks of Lake Erie. It is known for its restaurant scene, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the professional sports teams of the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Cleveland Guardians.
The city is culturally diverse, with all ethnicities and religions.
Currently, the population of Cleveland sits at just over 350,000 residents.
The city is easily separated by the Cuyahoga River, with the west side of the river being known as the ‘west side’. This is where Ashley lived with her family.
When she first disappeared, her file noted that the last sighting of Ashley occurred at West 96th Street and Madison.
This is a residential area, with small businesses filtered throughout. The walk to Lake Erie would be an easy one, being just about 2 miles from Edgewater Beach, a popular swimming beach.
Being that Ashley’s disappearance took place midsummer, in broad daylight, there had to be people out and about everywhere that day.
After ‘Uncle Kevin’s’ arrest, the FBI took another look at Ashley’s case.
They determined, from what they call ‘credible evidence’, that Ashley’s last known whereabouts weren’t 96th and Madison, but rather West 44th Street and Trowbridge.
This area is completely residential, and about three miles from the 96th and Madison.
West 43rd and Train Avenue was the area where investigators conducted a dig search, but only unearthed animal bones. This part of town is mostly residential again, with railroad tracks running along one side.
We don’t know what led the FBI to that area.
Cleveland is no stranger to crime. It also is no stranger to runaway teenagers.
With a crime rate of 60 per one thousand residents, Cleveland has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes — from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One’s chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 17.
Authorities in Cleveland state that they receive several reports of missing children each week, and over 90% are found in the first 24 hours. They also claim they don’t have the manpower and resources to devote to each case as it should be, leaving families to do a lot of the legwork.
THE QUESTIONS.
Authorities haven’t said much in the way of what evidence or information they do have on Ashley Summers disappearance, but I have many questions.
Not much has been followed up regarding the boyfriend, has he officially been cleared?
If Ashley’s last sighting was indeed at West 44th and Trowbridge, who was it that saw her there? Was she alone?
Have any of her belongings ever been found?
Does Uncle Kevin have any additional information on who she might have been with or where she might have been going, seeing as she didn’t make it to her aunt’s house?:
What do you think happened to Ashley Summers?
Ashley is described as a caucasian female, standing 5’5” tall and weighing around 130 pounds when she was last seen in July 2007.
She had shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes. It was believed that she was wearing a black shirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers.
Ashley has a tattoo on her right arm of a heart with the name “Gene” on it.
Ashley was 14 years old when she went missing, and would today be 30 years old.
Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Ashley Summers, please contact the Cleveland Police Department at 216–623–5005.
